The Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC) was designated an NCI Cancer Center in 1972 and gained comprehensive status in 1979. The HICCC is a component of Columbia University Medical Center and associated with New York-Presbyterian Hospital (NYPH). During the period 2003-07, CUMC and NYPH have committed over $312.7 million for i) new research initiatives in basic, clinical and population science; ii) new and expanded facilities for laboratory research and clinical activities; iii) recruitment and program restructuring; iv) support of the Center's administrative office; and v) bridge funding to offset reduced NCI CCSG support. A new Director, Riccardo Dalla-Favera, MD, was appointed in 2005 and given: i) authority over new facilities, including the Irving Cancer Research Center (ICRC), a new 10-story building dedicated to cancer research, with state-of-the-art laboratories (100,000 square feet) and incremental clinical (30,000 square feet) space in the Herbert Irving Pavilion (HIP); ii) a broad-based recruitment plan, which has already attracted 8 new faculty members to the HICCC; and iii) restructuring and expansion of the shared resources. The Director has fully reshaped the senior leadership of the HICCC with appointments of a Deputy Director for Clinical Research and Associate Directors for Basic Research, Clinical Research, Population Science, Biomedical Informatics, Shared Resources and Administration. The programmatic structure of the HICCC has been reorganized to increase cancer focus and interdisciplinary collaboration, and now includes 216 members from 22 Departments and 6 Schools, assigned to two Basic Research programs (Cancer Signaling Networks and Cancer Genetics & Epigenetics), three Disease-Specific programs (Breast Cancer, Prostate Cancer, and Lymphoid Development & Malignancy), and two Population Science programs (Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention, Control & Disparities). The HICCC administers and supports a total of 12 Shared Resources, of which four have been recently created.